Eighth Anniversary

 

For Nicole's Friday Face Off - broken, raw beauty in the face of devastation

Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Tubbs Fire that in the very early hours of October 9th, 2017 raced through parts of my town and turned entire neighborhoods to ashes. One of those neighborhoods was our old one. We weren't living there anymore at that time - we had moved to our current home five years before the fires - but the devastation and the anxious-filled days following that fateful night are still very vivid in my memory.

I didn't really want to write about this until I saw that today's prompt over at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "fire" - too much of a coincidence for me to ignore.

These are the remains of the Brookdale House, our old home.

We had lived 11 years in this house and we had been very happy in it. Here Kaefer grew from a three-year old to a teenager, important years in our book. Some of our neighbors were more than just neighbors, they had become friends. The husband of the lovely couple across the street had become Kaefer's substitute grandpa. Not much was left of their home.

The couple next to us often barbecued in their backyard and the most delicious flavors were wafting over to our yard. More than a few times they invited us over and revealed some of their "cooking secrets". I am so glad that both Kaefer and I were able to say goodbye to the husband a few days before he died (this was a couple years before the fires). During the night of the fire, his wife (now a widow) thankfully wasn't at home, but staying at her daughter's home in Tahoe. She never returned. 

Some neighbors moved to other neighborhoods or towns, others rebuilt. The good connection that we had with all of them unfortunately didn't last. Every now and then I see some of them, but the bond has certainly loosened.

I went up to the burnt out neighborhood right after the fires twice. Once, to see some of my old neighbors and the other time to take Kaefer up there. She was already studying at UC Davis at the time of the fire. When we got the permission to enter the property, we went to what used to be our backyard. And here a little miracle happened - I found one of the small concrete Japanese pagodas that I had forgotten when we moved because they had been covered by ivy. It had survived the inferno!

Songdog of the West

 

This week's prompt over at Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date is "favorite animal". Have you guessed that my favorite animal is the cat?

While I love cats, they are not my favorite animals. I love all animals, but there are a few that are closer to my heart. It was a hard decision between these four:

Wolf - this is a Mexican Gray Wolf in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum

Coyote, in Yellowstone

Moose, in Alaska

Cougar, in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum.

These four are my favorites, but in the end one of them is a bit more of a favorite - the coyote, the trickster in Native American legends, the Songdog of the West. My spirit animal.

 

We saw and heard a lot of them in Yellowstone. Among them has been this female:

Look closely - can you see the coyote in the middle of Highway 50 near Lake Tahoe?

And s/he is off into the woods!

We also saw them often in Yosemite. While we were camping there in the High Country we heard them every night. 

We even sometimes hear them here in our neighborhood. That usually gets me very excited - and even more when I heard two mountain lions one night. It is something very extraordinary when you lie in your bed and you can hear these wild animals. I for one deeply love this.

Coyotes are very smart animals and have outstanding survival skills. You can find them in the wilderness, rural areas and even big cities. There is an area in San Francisco where coyotes roam and you probably have heard about the coyote in New York City's Central Park. But unfortunately not everybody loves them; every year there are competitive trophy hunts on coyotes in some states (the more coyotes are killed, the better), an abhorrent practice.

They're also master sleepers.

In the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum

And I almost forgot - there's even a coyote in my garden! He comes from Mexico.

So, what's for dinner? I often like to use the wok when cooking - just last week we had ramen noodles with baked tofu, broccoli, red bell pepper and romaine lettuce. It's a quick, easy and healthy dinner.

I'm linking to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date and since there are so many sweet animal faces, also to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Strolling Along Old Streets

 

Bienvenue à Dinan, a medieval town in Bretagne. We were immediately drawn in by the cobblestone streets and half timbered houses. It is a lively little town where the streets are busy with people shopping in small local shops and sitting in street cafés. 

One of our favorite places was Place des Merciers.

Look at these old buildings! Some of these timber framed houses date from the 13th century and look as if they're leaning toward each other. 

We enjoyed strolling along the cobblestone alleys, passageways and streets (all pedestrian zone), visiting some shops and just enjoying the bustling atmosphere of this old city. I take delight in walking in towns without the need of watching out for cars. Many European towns and cities are so enjoyable because pedestrians don't take a back seat to cars. Instead, they are walkable and inviting with local shops, restaurants and cafés.

Outdoor restaurants and cafes were waiting for the lunch crowd.

The porch of the Couvent des Cordeliers, a monastery that was established by the Franciscans or Cordeliers in 1241. The construction of the Gothic porch itself was commenced in the 15th century. The monastery was closed in 1791 during the French Revolution and subsequently declared state property. Today, all that remains of the monastery is the cloister, courtyard and the Gothic porch.

Some more of the narrow alleys.

A gourmet shop. If you look closely you can see some bottles in the shop window. This is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday.

A notable landmark is the Tour de l'Horloge (clock tower) with its height of 40 meters (about 130 feet). It was commissioned by Queen Anne de Bretagne and housed the Maison de la Ville (town hall) until the French Revolution. Unfortunately, the tower was closed and we weren't able to climb up to the platform.

I'm not sure whether the lights in the streets were already up for Christmas or whether they are permanent decoration. We didn't stay until the evening to find out what it looks like, but my guess is that it's very beautiful and atmospheric, almost romantic.

Rain's prompt for TADD this week is "city streets" - I think this post fits the topic.

On an Island Far Away

 

When I first saw Rain's prompt for this week, "Far Away", I thought that I would skip it. But it got stuck in my head and was working its way until I knew exactly what I could write about - an island far far away I had the privilege to get to know a bit better during my study abroad. This is the furthest away I ever got from my home country (Germany) in order to live somewhere else. It wasn't only the furthest away in regards to kilometers or miles, but also in regards to culture.

It was 1983 when I moved to Taiwan, when it was still under Martial Law. I had just finished my second year of Chinese studies at Tübingen University and thought that now, after my first big and important exam, would be the perfect time to practice the Chinese language that I had learned so far. I had learned Mandarin or Han Chinese, but in Taiwan Fujian dialect is mainly spoken which, after a certain time, I finally picked up. Maybe in some post later I will write more about the Chinese language and its transcription into Western languages that often lead to very weird pronunciation. Let me just say that in this post I'll stick to the Wade Giles transcription which was used in Taiwan and, to my knowledge, still is. It is different to Pinyin which is the official romanized spelling that is used in the People's Republic of China, Singapore and the United Nations. Please keep in mind that these photos are from 1983.

Above is the dormitory where I was very lucky to live in a single room - true luxury. Fortunately my room was in the back, away from the sun and therefore slightly cooler. I had a fan in my room - otherwise I wouldn't have been able to stand the oppressing, humid heat. I felt constantly like living in a washhouse. I started to sweat when I just moved my fingers and my curly hair became even curlier.

This is the street I walked along every day - to get to university, to the small supermarket, to the street food booths. You will notice the "cages" in front of the windows - they protect the windows during the heavy and strong taifuns.

The dormitory was under the ownership of Dominican nuns with many of the nuns coming from the Philipines. On the first floor was a preschool and I enjoyed watching the kids lining up for the national anthem of Taiwan, San Min Chu-i. In return, the kids were very curious about the "long nose".

My daily walk to the university passed through rice fields where I would see egrets stalking through the crop. My dormitory was behind those newer buildings to the left in the photo below. Sometimes the street was covered with rice laid out to dry.

It was just a 15 minute walk to the University. While I lived in Taishan, Fu Jen University was in Hsinchuang, both suburbs of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan (officially the Republic of China). Nevertheless, it was just a short walk there by taking the shortcut through the rice fields. I sometimes got into awkward situations on that road, but that is stuff for a later post.

The beautiful campus of Fu Jen University, a private Catholic university, that was founded by jesuits in 1925 in Beijing and re-established in Taiwan in 1961. It is one of the finest universities in Taiwan.

I mentioned street food booths - street food was my main source of food I had in Taiwan. It was delicious and cheap and I ususally got it both for lunch and dinner. When you live on a student's budget and can get a filling and delicious meal for the equivalent of 50 cents, you don't ask twice. I never became sick, in case you were wondering.

Street market in Taishan

Street food in Chunghua Lu bazaar in Taipei

The village temple just up the mountain from Taishan:

I often took the bus into Taipei - at that time there was no subway, only buses. Sometimes I splurged and paid a little bit more to ride the air-conditioned bus that was also faster. Most of the time, though, I took the regular bus which sometimes became - interesting.

A view of Taipei with the Grand Hotel in the background (which had a disastrous fire in 1995). 

Chunghua Lu with the three-storied bazaar which, I think, is no longer there

I loved walking in the parks and watching people exercise Tai Chi.

I didn't have much money back then, but friends and I were still able to go on a few trips.

Taroko Gorge on the West coast

Sun Moon Lake in the center of the island

and a trip to a little beach town on the Pacific.

Before I finish this post, I want to introduce you to Bawan, who became a good friend. He is not Chinese nor Taiwanese, but is a member of the Shan-Ti Jen (mountain-earth people), a native people of Taiwan. The first photo of him and myself was taken near Sun Moon Lake and the second one is with his family when my friend Barb and I were asked to cook some European meal. If I remember correctly we prepared something with pasta which was readily available, but what I remember vividly was a wonderful time spent with this family.

You can see some food in some of these pictures, that's my dinner contribution to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. And since there are a lot of faces, I also link to Nicole's Friday Face Off.